October 10, 2007	Wednesday	Ramazan 27, 1428

PESHAWAR, Oct 9: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday sought written comments from the SSP of Peshawar and ordered the production of footage of two private television channels of the Oct 6 incidents involving the lawyers and police.

PHC Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan had taken a suo motu notice of the incident during which an armoured personnel carrier (APC) hit a group of lawyers, including bar association’s president Abdul Lateef Afridi.

Some of the injured lawyers are still in the hospital. The lawyers were protesting against the presidential election near the NWFP Assembly.

A bench of the court comprising Justice Pervez and Justice Saleem Khan recorded statements of city police chief Abdul Majeed Marwat and the APC driver, Habib Khan.

The court asked the lawyers who witnessed the incident to submit affidavits about it and fixed Oct 18 as the next date of hearing.

The bench directed the police chief to produce the security plan for the voting day.

It said the footage of the incident carried by DAWN NEWS and Aaj television channels should be produced on the next hearing. A correspondent of DAWN NEWS, present in the court, said the channel’s news director would provide the footage.

The courtroom was packed to its capacity as the proceedings were attended by a large number of lawyers, including Peshawar High Court Bar Association secretary-general Ishtiaq Ibraheem and vice-president Mian Abdul Fayyaz.

Mr Marwat told the bench that the incident was not intentional. He claimed that in the five months before the Oct 6 incident no untoward incident had taken place in Peshawar. Police, he added, had cordial relations with lawyers and had never resorted to violence against them.

The police chief said that when lawyers were putting to torch an effigy, the driver had tried to remove the APC fearing that the ammunition present inside might caught fire.

However, instead of reversing the APC, the driver moved it forward hitting the lawyers accidentally, he said.

The driver also said the incident was accidental in nature and he had no intention to move the APC towards the lawyers.

The chief justice said that after recording statements of eyewitnesses and looking at the footage, the court would be in a better position to decide the case.

He asked the lawyers if they had trust in the bench, saying if they had no trust he would abandon the suo motu proceedings. The lawyers said they had complete confidence in the court.